Expandable two-dimensional flow for container hierarchy

ABSTRACT

Presenting items in a two-dimensional access pane includes presenting a first set of icons arranged contiguously and in two dimensions of the access pane, where each of the icons corresponds to an item and at least some of the items are container icons that represent containers that contain other items and expanding at least one of the container icons to show a first container pane having icons corresponding to items contained in a corresponding container, where icons in the first container pane are arranged contiguously and in two dimensions of the first container pane. At least some of the icons in the first container pane may be container icons that represent containers that contain other items. The items may be files in a file system provided in connection with a personal computer that runs Macintosh OS, MS Windows, and Linux. The items may be data in a database system.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Prov. App. No. 61/838,595,filed Jun. 24, 2013, and entitled “EXPANDABLE TWO-DIMENSIONAL FLOW FORCONTAINER HIERARCHY,” which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application is directed to the field of organization andpresentation of information, and more particularly to the field ofbuilding and displaying a two-dimensional flow of hierarchic datastructures on a computer screen.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Billions of users are viewing high resolution screens of their mobiledevices and personal computers (desktops and laptops) on a daily basis.Increasing information capacity of contemporary displays has become amainstream lifestyle factor; it causes widespread changes in the wayspeople view and process information and has broad implications for thedesign of user interfaces by software and hardware vendors.

A two-dimensional user interface, where information snippets arearranged into a two-dimensional array on a pane, a page or a desktop,has become a ubiquitous key to productivity for popular operatingsystems. Snippets may include document thumbnails and icons, file andapplication icons, action buttons and other visual objects. With theadvancement of graphical quality of such visualization, this usage andinformation access metaphor becomes increasingly intuitive andrepresentative of the data and software accessed by a user.

Growing streams of diversified business and personal information bringto life powerful memorizing tools and services such as the EvernoteService and software developed by the Evernote Corporation of RedwoodCity, Calif. There are also cloud based file exchange services,including Dropbox, Box.net, Google Drive, Apple iCloud, Amazon S3, andmany other products and solutions. Combinations of local, device centricand cloud based storage greatly increase information capacitiesavailable to individuals and organizations. Once such informationvolumes reach a certain critical mass, additional data structuring andorganization may be required to facilitate comprehension and processing.

Among numerous types of data organization, two popular logical methodsare a container approach and a tagging approach. Under the containerapproach, a hierarchy of containers (also known as folders, directories,binders, portfolios, etc.) is designed to uniquely keep each item(information unit, such as a file, document, image, etc.) in a smallestcontainer within a set of containers, partially ordered by inclusion ofthe containers. An ordered subset of container names, starting with alargest container that is not a sub-container of another container,where each subsequent container is included into a previous one andwhere the last of the containers contains the desired item, is known asa full path to the item. A tag approach (tags may be synonymously calledlabels, identifiers, tabs, codes, marks, etc.) does not require a uniquecategorization of information units and may not represent a hierarchy,such as in the case of plain tags. Container and tag based organizationmethods may be combined in some software applications, for example, inthe Evernote data organization, or in certain database, search and emailsystems. Each of the methods provides a distinct way of visualization.

Simple and intuitive visualization methods for container hierarchies,such as folder trees in file systems, notes and notebooks in contentmanagement systems and other hierarchical data in various applications,represent important components of seamless information access. Oneprominent visual metaphor adopted in diverse operating systems andsoftware applications may represent a container hierarchy as a two-paneviewer: the first pane may be a one-dimensional list of containers andanother pane may be an adjacent one or two-dimensional viewing pane (agallery). Sometimes, the container hierarchy list may have a verticalline-by-line item arrangement where different container levels areindicated by offsets of names of the containers. Containers that includeother containers may be marked, for example, by triangles precedingnames of the containers. Some or all containers may be partially orfully expanded in a hierarchy list. However, only one container may beexpanded (opened) in the gallery pane at any given time. In other words,only information units (files, notes, documents, etc.) from oneparticular container may be simultaneously viewed within an intuitivematrix, represented by content snippets or file type icons. When a userneeds to view items from another container, the user has to navigatewithin the hierarchy list and expand a new container to replace apreviously opened container.

A limitation on displaying folder contents may significantly restrictsdata access efficiency; unfortunately, the restriction may not be curedby various file tree mapping techniques, such as a slice-and-dice methodand other mapping approaches.

Accordingly, it is desirable to develop a two-dimensional informationflow for container hierarchies to allow simultaneous access toinformation units in multiple containers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the system described herein, presenting items in atwo-dimensional access pane includes presenting a first set of iconsarranged contiguously and in two dimensions of the access pane, whereeach of the icons corresponds to an item and at least some of the itemsare container icons that represent containers that contain other itemsand expanding at least one of the container icons to show a firstcontainer pane having icons corresponding to items contained in acorresponding container, where icons in the first container pane arearranged contiguously and in two dimensions of the first container pane.At least some of the icons in the first container pane may be containericons that represent containers that contain other items. Presentingitems in a two-dimensional access pane may also include expanding atleast one of the container icons in the first container pane to show asecond container pane having icons corresponding to items contained in acorresponding container, where icons in the second container pane arearranged contiguously and in two dimensions of the second containerpane. Icons corresponding to unopened containers in the first containerpane may be moved below the second container pane. Icons that are movedmay be visually distinguished. Items in each of the container panes maybe arranged from left to right in the access pane so that one of theitems is on a far right side in a particular row of the access pane anda successive one of the items is on a far left side and in a subsequentrow of the access pane. Items in each of the container panes may bearranged from right to left in the access pane so that one of the itemsis on a far left side in a particular row of the access pane and asuccessive one of the items is on a far right side and in a subsequentrow of the access pane. The items may be files in a file system. Thefile system may be provided in connection with a personal computer thatruns one or more of the following operating systems: Macintosh OS, MSWindows, and Linux. The items may be data in a database system. Thefirst container pane may be shifted laterally one position with respectto the corresponding one of the container icons. The second containerpane may be shifted laterally one position with respect to thecorresponding one of the container icons. At least some of the icons maybe thumbnails and/or snippets of corresponding content. The access panemay include a toolbar for manipulating icons. The toolbar may includeicons that perform operations such as expand, collapse, cut, copy,paste, magnify, shrink, sort, and/or choose favorites. The access panemay be displayed on a screen of a mobile device. The mobile device mayuse iOS, Android OS, Windows Phone OS, Blackberry OS or mobile versionsof Linux OS.

According further to the system described herein, computer software,provided in a non-transitory computer-readable medium, presents items ina two-dimensional access pane. The software includes executable codethat presents a first set of icons arranged contiguously and in twodimensions of the access pane, where each of the icons corresponds to anitem and at least some of the items are container icons that representcontainers that contain other items and executable code that expands atleast one of the container icons to show a first container pane havingicons corresponding to items contained in a corresponding container,where icons in the first container pane are arranged contiguously and intwo dimensions of the first container pane. At least some of the iconsin the first container pane may be container icons that representcontainers that contain other items. The software also includesexecutable code that expands at least one of the container icons in thefirst container pane to show a second container pane having iconscorresponding to items contained in a corresponding container, whereicons in the second container pane are arranged contiguously and in twodimensions of the second container pane. Icons corresponding to unopenedcontainers in the first container pane may be moved below the secondcontainer pane. Icons that are moved may be visually distinguished.Items in each of the container panes may be arranged from left to rightin the access pane so that one of the items is on a far right side in aparticular row of the access pane and a successive one of the items ison a far left side and in a subsequent row of the access pane. Items ineach of the container panes may be arranged from right to left in theaccess pane so that one of the items is on a far left side in aparticular row of the access pane and a successive one of the items ison a far right side and in a subsequent row of the access pane. Theitems may be files in a file system. The file system may be provided inconnection with a personal computer that runs one or more of thefollowing operating systems: Macintosh OS, MS Windows, and Linux. Theitems may be data in a database system. The first container pane may beshifted laterally one position with respect to the corresponding one ofthe container icons. The second container pane may be shifted laterallyone position with respect to the corresponding one of the containericons. At least some of the icons may be thumbnails and/or snippets ofcorresponding content. The access pane may include a toolbar formanipulating icons. The toolbar may include icons that performoperations such as expand, collapse, cut, copy, paste, magnify, shrink,sort, and/or choose favorites. The access pane may be displayed on ascreen of a mobile device. The mobile device may use iOS, Android OS,Windows Phone OS, Blackberry OS or mobile versions of Linux OS.

The proposed technique for constructing and displaying a two-dimensionaldata flow for container hierarchies, such as Evernote notebook and noteaccess system (i.e., data in a database system), file trees and otherhierarchical data sets, includes merging a file hierarchy pane and agallery pane into a single two-dimensional access pane that may displayboth container icons and information unit snippets (collectively, items)within multiple containers, allowing a user to expand and/or collapsesome or all of the containers at any time.

The technique may include two different data flows and views of theaccess pane: hierarchical and contiguous. With the hierarchical dataflow, whenever a container at a certain level of the hierarchy isexpanded in the access pane, a level of the container may be indicatedby an offset from the left vertical edge of the pane, similarly to thelayout within a traditional container hierarchy list. The container iconor thumbnail may be highlighted or altered. For right-to-left languages,the system may be customized by making the offset start at the rightvertical edge of the access pane.

For example, an expanded top level container item (Level 1) may occupythe utmost left position in an access pane; immediate sub-containers(Level 2) of the top level container, when expanded, may occupy thesecond position from the left, etc. It should be noted that, with thehierarchic data flow and display in the access pane, deep containerhierarchies may be limited by displaying only a certain number of levelsthereof, which may depend on the effective width of the access pane.Thus, if the access pane may only include ten items in each horizontalline due to limitations on screen resolution or user settings (such asextra-large item icons), then a maximum depth of a displayed hierarchymay be limited, for example, to six levels, so that enough space isprovided in the access pane to display items of the most detailed level(with the highest level number).

For each expanded container, the system may create a sub-pane for itemspresent in the container, called a container pane, which is shifted byone position to the right of the container icon and occupies theremainder of the access pane. Icons, thumbnails or snippets for allitems in the expanded container, including subordinate (embedded)container items, are displayed in the container pane line-by-line in thesame way as the whole container hierarchy finds its place in the accesspane; the last line of the display may be incomplete.

Every new container located at any level in the container tree andexpanded in the access pane, whether at the top level or within anothercontainer pane, initiates a new pane offset to the right with respect tothe container icon. Items present in a new container may be displayed inthe new container pane and occupy a contiguous series of lines.

When a new container at some level is expanded either directly in theaccess pane or in one of the embedded container panes of the newcontainer, the new container pane occupies some space within the accesspane. Information flow for other items at the same level, which aredisplayed side by side with the new container item when the container isclosed, may follow several scenarios. Under one scenario, the itemspreserve an initial sort order, so the items preceding the newlyexpanded container remain above a new container pane, while items withsort order succeeding the container drop below the new container pane.Under an alternative scenario, newly expanded container panes gainpriority over closed containers and other items at the same level.Consequently, expanded containers in the alternative scenario are movedto the top of the access pane or a container pane of a parent containerof the expanded container, while retaining the pre-existing sortingorder between the containers at the same level; in connection with this,closed containers and single data units at the same level drop downbelow all such expanded containers and retain a relative sorting order.

A second technique of data flow includes a contiguous space-saving flowwhere expanded container panes are not offset against a verticalboundary of the access pane but instead follow each other without spaceor with a minimal spacing, so that an expanded container at any levelmay be displayed in an arbitrary position within the access pane,defined by the specifics of data flow and number of items in eachcontainer. Such data flow and display may be helpful when a user isvisually searching for certain items within a significant informationvolume without knowing at which hierarchy level the desired items arelocated. Under such conditions, the user may need maximal informationdensity, while a hierarchic data representation may not be particularlyvaluable for achieving a goal.

With a contiguous space-saving flow, container panes may be splitbetween different lines of an access pane and may end in a middleposition within a certain line, immediately followed by other items,according to the data flow. This may apply to container panes at anyhierarchy level. Visual markers may be used to facilitate viewing splitcontainer panes by users.

It should be noted that information flow, layout and display for theproposed system are consistent with the container hierarchy:specifically, if a container at a certain level is expanded, then allpreceding containers in a path that includes that expanded container(the notion of path is explained elsewhere herein) are also expanded.Similarly, if a container at a certain level is collapsed, so are allcontainers that are included with the container.

For right-to-left languages, the system may be modified to thecontiguous space-saving flow by reversing line direction, so that thelast icon in any line of the access pane is located on the left and thesubsequent icon is the utmost right icon on the next line.

Any visible container in an access pane may toggle between expanded andcollapsed states by a click or touch by a user. Additional operationsover the container tree and items in the container tree may also besupported by the system. The additional operations may include expandingor collapsing all items in the container tree, sorting items bydifferent attributes, viewing, hiding and unhiding certain types ofdata, designating items as favorites and placing or duplicating itemswithin a priority section of the access pane, navigating and editingfolders and items, toggling viewing modes for the access pane and itemsin the access pane, searching, etc.

Additional operations within an access pane may include Expand All,Collapse All, Expand More (for example, expanding each container by oneextra level if the container has embedded containers), Collapse More (areverse action to Expand More), Sort folders or/and items by name, date,data type, size and other parameters, Pin an item as a favorite,Cut/Copy/Paste any item or set of items in the tree, possibly withmultiple selection, Move items between folders by dragging portions ofthe tree, View icons and thumbnails in different sizes, etc. The systemmay also have enhanced navigation features reflecting unique informationflow of the system, such as navigating to a next/previous expandedcontainer, simultaneous hiding of all items and displaying onlycontainers, and a reciprocal operation of hiding all containers to viewonly items. Operations within an access pane may be assigned to buttons,menus, keyboard keys and shortcuts, multi-touch gestures, etc.

It should be noted that the system may take into account screenresolution and size, object size in an access pane, depth of a containertree, overall number of items and other factors to optimize informationdisplay in the access pane. For example, the system may pre-scan thecontainer tree and automatically choose an optimal initial object size,number of objects per line, and number of displayed levels.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the system described herein will now be explained in moredetail in accordance with the figures of the drawings, which are brieflydescribed as follows.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an access pane with collapsedcontainers, according to embodiments of the system described herein.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates data flow and visualization for anaccess pane with one expanded top level container, according toembodiments of the system described herein.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of an access pane with expandedcontainers at two levels and a hierarchical data flow, according toembodiments of the system described herein.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of an access pane with a prioritizedinformation flow for expanded containers, according to embodiments ofthe system described herein.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of an access pane with a contiguousspace-saving information flow, according to embodiments of the systemdescribed herein.

FIG. 6 is a system flow diagram illustrating operation of the system,according to embodiments of the system described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

The system described herein provides a mechanism for organizing,rendering and viewing hierarchical container trees with informationunits at different levels within a two-dimensional access pane forconvenient processing by users. Multiple information flow optionsavailable within the system serve different information access tasks.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration 100 of an access pane 110 withcollapsed containers. The access pane 110 has a toolbar 120 and displaysa container tree with three collapsed containers 130 a-130 c and items140 (information units) of different types, as represented by icons.Icons or buttons of the toolbar 120 illustrate sample display, data flowand processing features of the system that are explained elsewhereherein. Thus, two icons 150, 160 represent two reciprocal data flowfeatures of expanded and collapsing a container tree by one additionallevel; an icon 170 represents a data processing feature of sortingcontainers and items by a certain attribute, such as name; two icons180, 190 show reciprocal visualization features of zooming in andzooming out that may cause, for example, increase and decrease of anicon size within the access pane 110.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration 200 of data flow and visualizationfor the access pane 110 with the top level container 130 a expanded. InFIG. 2, a hierarchical data flow is used. The access pane 110 displaysthe same container tree as in FIG. 1, except that the container 130 a isexpanded to create a container pane 240 and display subordinatecontainers and items within the container pane. The container pane 240shows two second level containers 230 a, 230 b and several itemsbelonging to the container 130 a. According to the hierarchical dataflow explained elsewhere herein, the container pane 240 is placed nextto the container icon 130 a, with a single position offset in the accesspane 110 and occupying several reserved lines in the access pane.Remaining items 130 b, 130 c, 140 in the container tree retain anoriginal flow thereof and are placed starting from the next line of theaccess pane 110 located below the container pane 240.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration 300 of an access pane with expandedcontainers at two different levels and a hierarchical data flow. Theaccess pane 110 further expands the folder tree illustrated in FIG. 1and FIG. 2; specifically, the previously expanded first level container130 a with the corresponding container pane 240 includes the collapsedcontainer 230 a and now an expanded version of the container 230 b.Expanding the container 230 b opens an embedded container pane 340,positions the embedded container pane 340 with an additional offset, anddisplays its items within the embedded container pane 340. Remainingitems in the previously expanded container 130 a and the items 140 aredisplayed in a same order as previously.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration 400 of the access pane 110 with aprioritized information flow for expanded containers. As explainedelsewhere herein, when a user expands one or more containers, it may beinterpreted as evidence that the user prioritizes contents of a recentlyexpanded container over collapsed containers and wants to see theexpanded container in a more prominent position. Accordingly, analternative data flow puts expanded containers above adjacent closedcontainers at the same level of hierarchy in a container tree. Theaccess pane 110 shows the expanded first level container 130 a with thecontainer pane 240, and the expanded subordinate container 230 b withthe container pane 340 show the same semi-expanded state of thecontainer tree common to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3 as shown in FIG. 3.However, a data flow in FIG. 4 is different from FIG. 3: the container230 a, which is placed in FIG. 3 above the expanded container 230 b andthe corresponding container pane 340, following an original order in thecontainer tree, is now altered to support prioritized information flowfor expanded containers. Accordingly, the container 230 a is moved belowthe container pane 340 and joins items in the container pane 240. Inorder to indicate to a user that a change in order has occurred, displayicons for moved items may be visually distinguished, as illustrated byshape filling pattern on the container icon 230 a. The remainingcontainers 130 b, 130 c and items 140 are displayed with an unchangedinformation flow. In many cases, a prioritized information flow mayresult in a more compact display than a regular hierarchical flow; thisis demonstrated in FIG. 4 where an extra line 140 a of image files ispresent, which was absent in FIG. 3 in spite of the same state of thecontainer tree.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration 500 of the access pane 110 with acontiguous space-saving information flow. In contrast with theinformation flow in FIGS. 3, 4, containers and items in FIG. 5 form onecontiguous range of items split without spaces and offsets betweenmultiple lines of the access pane 110. Specifically, an icon of a firstlevel container 130 a is located in the utmost left position of thefirst content line of the access pane. The first level container 130 ais immediately followed by a container pane with a first portion 240 alocated in the same line as the container icon 130 a. The container panehas a middle portion 240 b covering a full line of the access pane andan end portion 240 c covering three items from the start to the middleof the third line of the access pane 110. Similarly, the expanded secondlevel container 230 b (a sub-container of the first level container 130a) is represented by a container pane with the starting portion 340 alocated in the same line of the access pane with both container icons230 a, 230 b, while the end portion 340 b takes a portion of the nextline. Other items 130 b, 130 c, 140 are placed at the end of the accesspane 110 in a same way as in previous figures. It should be noted thatthe contiguous space-saving information flow achieves maximuminformation density with a given screen and access pane sizes, screenresolution and a default or user defined size of content icons. Thus,FIG. 5 displays 30 information units (container and item icons) comparedwith 23 units in FIG. 3, a 30% increase in information density.

Referring to FIG. 6, a flow diagram 600 illustrates in detail changes ininformation workflow and display within an access pane associated withexpanding and collapsing containers. Processing starts at a step 610where the system scans a container tree or other data structuredisplayed and processed in the access pane. After the step 610,processing proceeds to a step 615, where the system calculates optimalsize of access pane items and grid parameters (the number and width oflines of the access pane). After the step 615, processing proceeds to astep 620, where a default flow of the container tree (or other datastructure) is displayed in the access pane.

After the step 620, processing proceeds to a test step 625, where it isdetermined whether a user is expanding a previously collapsed container.If so, processing proceeds to a step 630, where a new container pane iscreated. After the step 630, processing proceeds to a step 635, where acontainer and item flow in the new container pane is built using currentsort order and other settings defined by the system and/or user. Afterthe step 635, processing proceeds to a step 640, where the containericon may be replaced or highlighted prior to its display. For example,in FIGS. 1-5, icons of expanded containers are represented by images ofsemi-opened folders, while collapsed containers are associated withimages of closed folders. Another example is shown in FIG. 4 where anicon of a collapsed container is highlighted to show a change in adisplay order due to prioritized information flow for expandedcontainers. After the step 640, processing proceeds to a step 645, wherean information flow for containers and items in the access pane andpossibly in a parent container of the currently expanded container ismodified (information reflow). After the step 645, processing proceedsto a step 650, where the access pane with the modified data flow isredrawn and displayed to the user.

After the step 650, processing proceeds to a test step 655, which alsofollows the test step 625 in case when a user does not want to expand acurrently collapsed container. At the test step 655, it is determinedwhether the user is collapsing a previously expanded container. If so,processing proceeds to a step 660, where an information flow in theaccess pane and possibly in a parent container of the currentlycollapsed container is modified and a container pane of the currentlycollapsed container is deleted, as explained elsewhere herein. After thestep 660, processing proceeds to a step 665, where a container icon orthumbnail is modified, which is explained elsewhere herein. After thestep 665, processing proceeds to a step 670, where the system redrawsand displays a modified access pane with an updated container icon tothe user.

After the step 670, processing proceeds to a step 675, where the systemfollows user instructions on information workflow, sorting and otherprocessing, changing system settings, etc. The step 675 may also bereached from the test step 655 in case when the user does not want tocollapse a currently expanded container. After the step 675, processingis complete. It should be noted that, although simultaneous expandingand collapsing of multiple containers, such as when a user presses abutton 150, 160 (presented, for example, in FIG. 1) to expand orcollapse all containers by one additional level, are not explicitlyexplained in the diagram 600, the sequence of steps for such operationsis substantially similar to the steps presented in FIG. 6.

Various embodiments discussed herein may be combined with each other inappropriate combinations in connection with the system described herein.Additionally, in some instances, the order of steps in the flowcharts,flow diagrams and/or described flow processing may be modified, whereappropriate. Subsequently, elements and areas of screen described inscreen layouts may vary from the illustrations presented herein.Further, various aspects of the system described herein may beimplemented using software, hardware, a combination of software andhardware and/or other computer-implemented modules or devices having thedescribed features and performing the described functions. The mobiledevice may be a smartphone, although other devices, such as wearablecomputers, are also possible. The system described herein may beimplemented with any type of electronic screen capable of being actuatedby a touch screen, electromagnetic or other pen.

Note that mobile device(s) capable of running the system describedherein may include software that is pre-loaded with the device,installed from an app store, installed from a desktop (after possiblybeing pre-loaded thereon), installed from media such as a CD, DVD, etc.,and/or downloaded from a Web site. The mobile device may use anoperating system such as iOS, Android OS, Windows Phone OS, BlackberryOS and mobile versions of Linux OS.

Software implementations of the system described herein may includeexecutable code that is stored in a computer readable medium andexecuted by one or more processors, including one or more processors ofa personal computer (desktop computer or laptop computer). The personalcomputer may receive input from a capturing device that may be connectedto, part of, or otherwise in communication with the personal computer.The personal computer may include software that is pre-loaded with thedevice, installed from an app store, installed from media such as a CD,DVD, etc., and/or downloaded from a Web site. The personal computer mayrun one or more operating systems including Macintosh OS, MS Windows,and Linux. The computer readable medium may be non-transitory andinclude a computer hard drive, ROM, RAM, flash memory, portable computerstorage media such as a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a flash drive, an SD cardand/or other drive with, for example, a universal serial bus (USB)interface, and/or any other appropriate tangible or non-transitorycomputer readable medium or computer memory on which executable code maybe stored and executed by a processor. The system described herein maybe used in connection with any appropriate operating system.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from a consideration of the specification or practice of theinvention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andexamples be considered as exemplary only, with the true scope and spiritof the invention being indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of presenting items in a two-dimensionalaccess pane, comprising: presenting a first set of icons arrangedcontiguously and in two dimensions of the access pane, wherein each ofthe icons corresponds to an item and at least some of the items arecontainer icons that represent containers that contain other items;expanding at least one of the container icons to show a first containerpane having icons corresponding to items contained in a correspondingcontainer, wherein icons in the first container pane are arrangedcontiguously and in two dimensions of the first container pane; andexpanding at least one of the container icons in the first containerpane to show a second container pane having icons corresponding to itemscontained in a corresponding container, wherein icons in the secondcontainer pane are arranged contiguously and in two dimensions of thesecond container pane and wherein icons in the first container pane areprioritized by moving icons corresponding to unopened containers toreorder icons in the first container pane.
 2. A method, according toclaim 1, wherein icons corresponding to unopened containers in the firstcontainer pane are moved below the second container pane.
 3. A method,according to claim 1, wherein icons that are moved are visuallydistinguished.
 4. A method, according to claim 1, wherein items in eachof the container panes are arranged from left to right in the accesspane so that one of the items is on a far right side in a particular rowof the access pane and a successive one of the items is on a far leftside and in a subsequent row of the access pane.
 5. A method, accordingto claim 1, wherein items in each of the container panes are arrangedfrom right to left in the access pane so that one of the items is on afar left side in a particular row of the access pane and a successiveone of the items is on a far right side and in a subsequent row of theaccess pane.
 6. A method, according to claim 1, wherein the items arefiles in a file system.
 7. A method, according to claim 1, wherein theitems are data in a database system.
 8. A method, according to claim 1,wherein the first container pane is shifted laterally one position withrespect to the corresponding one of the container icons.
 9. A method,according to claim 8, wherein the second container pane is shiftedlaterally one position with respect to the corresponding one of thecontainer icons.
 10. A method, according to claim 1, wherein at leastsome of the icons are at least one of: thumbnails and snippets ofcorresponding content.
 11. A method, according to claim 1, wherein theaccess pane includes a toolbar for manipulating icons.
 12. A method,according to claim 11, wherein the toolbar includes icons that performat least some of the following operations: expand, collapse, cut, copy,paste, magnify, shrink, sort, and choose favorites.
 13. A method,according to claim 1, wherein the access pane is displayed on a screenof a mobile device.
 14. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumcontaining software that presents items in a two-dimensional accesspane, the software comprising: executable code that presents a first setof icons arranged contiguously and in two dimensions of the access pane,wherein each of the icons corresponds to an item and at least some ofthe items are container icons that represent containers that containother items; executable code that expands at least one of the containericons to show a first container pane having icons corresponding to itemscontained in a corresponding container, wherein icons in the firstcontainer pane are arranged contiguously and in two dimensions of thefirst container pane; and executable code that expands at least one ofthe container icons in the first container pane to show a secondcontainer pane having icons corresponding to items contained in acorresponding container, wherein icons in the second container pane arearranged contiguously and in two dimensions of the second container paneand wherein icons in the first container pane are prioritized by movingicons corresponding to unopened containers to reorder icons in the firstcontainer pane.
 15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, accordingto claim 14, wherein icons corresponding to unopened containers in thefirst container pane are moved below the second container pane.
 16. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium, according to claim 14, whereinicons that are moved are visually distinguished.
 17. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, according to claim 14, wherein items in eachof the container panes are arranged from left to right in the accesspane so that one of the items is on a far right side in a particular rowof the access pane and a successive one of the items is on a far leftside and in a subsequent row of the access pane.
 18. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, according to claim 14, wherein items in eachof the container panes are arranged from right to left in the accesspane so that one of the items is on a far left side in a particular rowof the access pane and a successive one of the items is on a far rightside and in a subsequent row of the access pane.
 19. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, according to claim 14, wherein the items arefiles in a file system.
 20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium,according to claim 14, wherein the items are data in a database system.21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, according to claim 14,wherein the first container pane is shifted laterally one position withrespect to the corresponding one of the container icons.
 22. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium, according to claim 21, whereinthe second container pane is shifted laterally one position with respectto the corresponding one of the container icons.
 23. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, according to claim 14, wherein at least someof the icons are at least one of: thumbnails and snippets ofcorresponding content.
 24. A non-transitory computer-readable medium,according to claim 14, wherein the access pane includes a toolbar formanipulating icons.
 25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium,according to claim 24, wherein the toolbar includes icons that performat least some of the following operations: expand, collapse, cut, copy,paste, magnify, shrink, sort, and choose favorites.
 26. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, according to claim 14, wherein the access paneis displayed on a screen of a mobile device.